safe house

sci-fi poem

He hid me in the painting mounted

on the drawing room wall

A varied and stimulating landscape

conducive to good mental health.

Days were spent within the cottage

fearful of the attentions of art connoisseurs.

But at night I ventured out to speak to him,

anxious for news of my release from this

Alcatraz of oil and varnish.

I was met only with a growing

catalogue of platitudes and

regularly altered scenery,

I awoke one morning to the light

and warmth of a newly uncovered sun,

clouds vanquished by paint remover.

Then a puppy, badly drawn with stilted gait

endearing and grotesque in equal measure.

I threatened suicide,

trekked to that distant corner where canvas met frame

legs dangling over gilded edge,

whilst tears spilt dramatically on to the mantle piece below.

The following day the cottage was ring-fenced by a high stone wall.

He has provided company.

They blunder around the landscape

a crude army of stick-men without purpose

or need,

I have taken to barricading the door at night.

We have reached an impasse it seems,

I refuse to appear until he releases me,

he spends his days patiently thinning the cottage walls,

in a mock version of hide go seek

his impatience tempered only by the fear

that he might erase me with one over enthusiastic

wipe of his paint thinning brush

Reviews

[Mockingbird]

this is a great narrative poem. the casual way in which it is written makes it easy to suspend disbelief and make it a pleasure to read. excellent imagery, reads like a grimm's fairy tale.